Two Paths
by AnAustralianGamer
Summary: Jaune Arc was rejected from Beacon. So, instead, he looked for a job in Vale, still wanting to get away from his small, nameless village. Yet his dreams of being a hero never left him. Neo walked a dark path and was constantly walking even further down that path. So what happens when the paths of light and dark cross and become grey, even just for a little while.
1. Light and Dark

Light (Jaune)

It was a cold day in the village. Jaune had his bags packed, even though it was a week until he was meant to leave. His transcripts were awaiting his arrival. His father had already brought his tickets. His boss was ready for him to start working the moment he arrived. Everything seemed to be well. Well, other than that his transcripts where for citizenship in the kingdom of Vale rather than for Beacon, but he tried not to let that get him down.

"Son, are you ready?" Jaune's father asked, leaning on the door. He was frowning slightly, hiding his worry and fear behind the stoic face of a woodsman.

"Yes, Dad." Jaune answered. "I'm almost an adult. I don't need you to hover." He chuckled nervously at that. In truth, the young man would miss the reassurance of his parents always being behind him, ready to catch him if he fell. Yet at the same time, he felt the urge to break free of his cage and fly.

"I worry, boy. Just remember, if you ever need to, you can come back and work with me. I could always use an extra set of hands. Vale will always need wood, and I will always need woodcutters, or even caring for the saplings if you want."

Jaune merely shook his head at his father's words. He knew what he was doing. He was giving his son a way out. A way to stay with the family, to work and save up enough money to one day start his own family in their safe little corner of the world. But that was not what he wanted.

"Thanks, dad. But I need to do this. I... I didn't get into Beacon, but that's ok. I can still help people, even if it's from over a bar rather than with a sword."

Jaune's father smiled. It was the honest smile of an honest man. "Live will, son."

"Live strong, father." Jaune said back.

Many old families had their sayings, their words of encouragement passed down through the ages. But not the Arcs. They had a wish for each other. For the son to live well, and as they want, and for the father to live long and strong. It was simple and true, though every generation, no matter the occupation they took.

* * *

Dark (Neo)

It was a cold night in the backstreets of Vale. Neo's aura was shattered, so she had to run. It was a week until the next mission, but that wouldn't mean anything if she was caught now. It was meant to be simple, yet it wasn't. Someone, somewhere, had fucked up.

Police sirens echoed all around, lights flashing down alleyways. Her illusion had held until she got into the alley, so they didn't know her face, but if they found her here where there was meant to be a blond woman with a giant sword, they would put two and two together.

So she ran. It was a solo job, so there was no one to watch her back. It was meant to be simple. Break in, steal some documents, get out. Well, she had those documents and was out, so it was a mission success at the end of the day. But the info was hot, too hot. Hotter than it should have been. It wasn't just a politician having a hidden Faunus family. No. It was worse.

It was a politician keeping Faunus chained in his fucking basement and paying the cops off to look the other way. It made her want to vomit. Neo had killed people, even started to like it at some point. But that was NOTHING compared to what that politician was doing. Hardcore non-consensual BDSM stuff. Cutting off fingers, ears, eyes. It made her touch her own neck. The scar hidden under a thick layer of makeup.

If she could get back to The Club, well, he would pay. Rather literally. It would set them up for another few months. Afterward, she could make sure some sort of 'accident' happened to him. But they needed the money first. Thus the whole current fiasco.

Neo jumped over a small wall into a park, deciding it would be a good spot to lose the cops. She took a few random turns and somehow ended up coming out a few streets down from where she entered the part. Dipping into another alley, she finally stopped. They had lost her trail now, so if she came across them, she could look like an innocent bystander.

The short girl decided now would be a good time for some rest, and simply collapsed in the alleyway. Her heart was racing, beating like she had just finished fighting the mother of all Grimm.

'Well, I did just run a marathon.' She thought to herself.

That's when she noticed something red and sticky coming from her side.

'Shit. I need to get moving again.'

With blood, a graze luckily, staining her clothes, Neo made her way back to The Club. Dropped the papers off to Junior to give to Roman, then went upstairs to a group of rooms. Opening one revealed a small, two-room apartment. The small girl collapsed onto the couch and quickly fell asleep. She had a week to recover, so she knew she would be fine. But for now, it was just her and her pain.


	2. Hope and Despair

Light (Jaune)

Jaune Arc stepped off the bullhead. His employer was meant to meet him at the docks. Junior was meant to be an easy man to spot, being a bear of a man with a scowl that made kids cry. The young man, after pulling his head from the nearest trashcan, could easily tell what the description meant.

After meeting up with the man, who made Jaune, a not small young man, look tiny, they made their way to the club. It was early in the night, having taken the entire day to get to the nearest docks, then a few hours to fly to Vale.

"Your job will be simple. Until you get your bartenders license, something that will take roughly six months, you will be a busk boy, and occasionally run errands. Is that understood?" Junior asked Jaune, giving him a glare that told him in not so many words that if he said no that it would end badly.

"Yessir." Jaune answered quickly, already fearing for his job, without even having worked a single day.

"Most things in The Club are kept above the law, but I work in information on the side. You agreed to keep anything you saw or heard to yourself on the phone. But I want you to say it again in person."

Jaune merely nodded, and tried his best not to stutter, yet failed miserably. "I-i promise to k-keep m-my mouth shut and m-my eyes closed s-sir."

Junior then surprised Jaune by smiling. "Keep that attitude up and you may just make it in this place kid. Just stay out of trouble and you will do fine. But we will need to do something about those clothes."

Jaune looked down at himself, showing his normal outfit. His blue jeans and his Pumpkin Petes hoody. Then it struck the younger man. He was working in a bar, with the only intimidating thing about him being the old sword hanging from his waist.

The sudden realization caused Junior to laugh, the crisp, cold winter air causing a mist to explode from his mouth. "Don't worry kid, we can find you something to wear. Something better then what I make The Gang wear. After all, you are an employee of The Club, not The Gang."

"T-thanks." Jaune stuttered, feeling his cheeks heat up slightly.

After a none too gentle tap on the back from Junior, the pair finally got to The Club, having walked all the way from the docks. It looked rather simple, a red door with a main in a tacky suit standing next to it. Already, a few people were lining up next to the door to get in, even though it clearly stated that they would not open for another hour and a half.

The pair went right in, the doorman opening the door for them with a nod to each of the pair.

"If you are going to be working for me, you should know a few things. Your room is on the top floor, third door on the right. Don't go in any of the others. People live in them and you will get stabbed, shot, and or burned if you enter them. If a blond with a rack that is too big for you to think of a bra size for, come get me then take five in the backroom. If you hear or see a fight, get to the backroom. Literally, anything goes wrong, backroom."

"Alright. Understood sir."

Junior snorted softly. "And stop calling me sir. We work in a nightclub for fuck's sake. Call me Junior. Or Mr. Xiong if you have too."

The pair then went from a small corridor, to contain the noise from the dance floor and from the street, into a large open room that took up most of the building. The room was so large it literally had trees in it. Though from how they flickered they seemed to be fake.

Around the walls where small booths, designed to fit up to six people comfortably, or ten not so much. On one side was a ridiculously sized bar with every drink you could ever think of lining its walls. Above the bar was a small VIP area with long couches and short glass tables.

"Welcome to your new home, kid."

Jaune was so in awe that he didn't even notice the small, Neapolitan colored girl slip past him into the streets.

* * *

Dark (Neo)

Neo got a good look at the new help. Every six months or so he had to hire a new one. It wasn't so much that the help was bad, more so that people think too highly or themselves. Like having a piece of paper saying you knew how to make drinks actually meant you were good at it or something. Personally, Neo thought the scrawny kid wouldn't even last the six months, especially if he kept the bunny on his hoodie.

She quickly put thoughts of the new help out of her mind and focused on the job at hand. It was going to be a long one. She was to watch over a transaction that Roman had with some White Fang. Apparently, they had gotten a new boss or something, and she was ordering them to arm up. Thus they needed arms, and Roman had plenty of them.

Unfortunately, the Fang did not have a lot of cold hard cash, so it would most likely be a few days of arguing, threatening, and making promises until the weapons were handed over and promise to do favors would be given. This wasn't the first time they had dealt with the White Fang, and most likely would not be the last. Neo could practically tell what was going to happen.

Fang would be given weapons on credit, Fang would hit a train or something, Fang would use the dust to pay back the credit, then rinse and repeat. Idiots they may be, but they did pay their debts, of all kinds.

Soon, Neo met up with Roman Torchwick. He gave her is normal, smartass smile. "Ready to deal with some stupid animals?" He asked. She merely rolled her eyes, pink and blue swapping sides once or twice through the roll.

"I'll take that as a yes. Now, if you would not mind?" Roman asked the small woman, and he put his hand on her shoulder. It caused Neo to shudder slightly. Not that Roman had ever done anything to her, she was too valuable to him, but it didn't mean she liked him touching her.

Activating the second half of her semblance, Neo teleported the pair a few kilometers outside the walls of Vale, into a small clearing. Instantly alarm bells rang in her head. The voices in her mind all screamed for her to run, to leave Roman and get out. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't go back to being alone. So instead she stood firm and got ready to dance.

What awaited them was a dark-haired woman with a surly smile to match Roman's cocky one. But unlike Roman's, her's made Neo's very soul itself shudder.

"Why, you must be Roman Torchwick." She said to Neo's employer. "Just the man I was looking for. How nice of you to... Drop in."

As the woman spoke, she slowly approached, each word was a step, and each step was pulling the cord that stopped Neo from attacking her a little tighter. But it broke when she went to touch him. To place her hand on his cheek.

Ignoring Adam's shake of the head, Neo drew her sword and tried to strike the hand that was about to touch her boss. She never even got close. The woman simply flicked her hand and Neo was caught up in a torrent of flame, causing her to let out a wordless scream of pain.

Adam merely clenched his jaw, having gone through the same but moments ago. Roman stated at both Neo and the woman in shock. The woman simply ignored her, continuing to talk to Roman.

"My name is Cinder. And I happen to require your... Special services." This time she managed to put her hand on Roman's cheek, forcing him to look at her as Neo's aura was slowly burnt away. "Trust me, you do not want to refuse. It would end very badly for the both of us."

Cinder smiled as Neo's aura finally broke. But unlike with Adam, who had simply been too stupid to not realized he was outclassed, Neo had noticed earlier, yet still decided to attack Cinder, thus she kept the fire going for a few more seconds, leaving the young woman with various burns over her exposed skin.

"I need some dust. Well, a lot of it really. I am sure you won't disappoint me." Cinder told Roman, not even letting the criminal answer before walking off, swaying her hips as to make sure every eye was on her. All but one. Roman was already down by Neo's side, trying to treat her burns. But Neo's eyes were watching that woman, cursing her with every fiber of her small being.


	3. Worry and Anger

Light (Jaune)

"Alright, so you got everything kid?" Junior asked, perhaps for the fifth time. To Jaune, it was like being around his father all over again.

"Yep. Take them their drinks, don't spill them, only take the drink away when the whole group leaves, or if all the glasses are empty. Take them their food after drinks, don't drop it, and only take the food once everyone has stopped eating for at least ten minutes. Simple." Jaune answered with confidence that he didn't really have.

"You are saying that now, but in practice, it's a lot harder. You are watching forty different tables all designed for privacy."

Jaune laughed nervously as he did up his tie. Junior had given him a black shirt with a white vest, much like his own. But Jaune's had a blue tie, showing he was Club staff, not a mook. Not to mention the color swap. The white gloves worried Jaune at first, but he noticed once they were on that they were very, very thin, and had small bumps along them to help with gripping things.

"How do I look?" Jaune asked, turning to a pair of twins.

"Surprisingly, not like a mook." Melanie answered.

"But not good enough for us." Miltia continued.

"It will do until he starts bar work. He can get a proper suit once we know he is staying on." Junior told the twins, then looked skywards and took in a large breath.

"Ten till opening! Get your asses ready!"

Suddenly, like magic, around twenty mooks came from the back room and took up positions around the club. One went up to the DJ booth and put on a large bear mask, starting up the music. The trees flickered a few times and leaves started to fall around the dancefloor. They were colored in Red, White, Black, and Yellow.

"Jaune, today you just sit back and watch. You start tomorrow." Junior told his newest employee, and Jaune was all too happy to oblige. He was still tired from the traveling earlier in the day but didn't want to complain to his new boss on his first day.

* * *

Four hours had passed. Jaune had stayed near the bar the entire time, watching his boss serve food, drinks and manage the club all at once. He seemed to have an eye for trouble, and threw people out, or cut them off before it escalated into anything major. He thought the 20 mooks for show at first, yet they each where constantly kept busy by the few hundred people crammed into The Club. Every two hours the mooks seemed to swap, being two groups of mooks that worked each night. Two on, two off.

Just when Junior was about to tell Jaune to hit the hay, Roman Torchwick suddenly ran in a few White Fang Faunus with him. The White Fang seemed to be carrying some sort of stretcher.

"Junior! Backroom! Now!" The criminal called out.

"Shit. Jaune! Bar! Only serve tap drinks, don't try and do a mix!" Jaune nodded stupidly at his boss, but he had already moved into the backroom.

After moving onto the other side of the bar, a blond with a bust so big it seemed her clothes could barely contain it walked up to him. "What was that about?" She asked.

"I have no clue. I only just started, so I am still trying to figure out my left and right." Jaune answered, doing his best not to stutter, and actually succeeding for once.

"Well, since Junior seems busy, perhaps you can help me, blond to blond?" The woman asked him, making sure to add on a wink at the end.

Jaune smiles sincerely at the girl, doing his best to ignore the blush that was currently covering his entire face and neck. "S-sure. How can I help you?"

The girl in question pulled out a scroll and showed Jaune a picture on it. It looked like the blond but with black hair a little older.

"I'm afraid not. I only just got to Vale. My boss may know, but we are having a bit of an emergency at the moment. If you forward me the picture I can ask around for you." Jaune told the girl, honestly wanting to help her. This caught her off guard, throwing her entire plan to use force to get the info out of him to the wind.

"Umm, sure?" The busty blond said, giving Jaune her number in the process.

"Well, Yang, I will be sure to contact you in a few days to let you know if I found anything. Good luck in your search."

Yang smiled at Jaune. "Yeah. You too buddy." She said as she got up and left the club.

Quickly the twins ran up to Jaune, both screaming bloody murder.

"Umm, pardon?" Jaune asked, confusion clear on his face.

Miltia put her hand over her sister's mouth "What did you say to her to get her to leave without crashing this place? This is the fifth time this year she has been here, and the first she didn't trash the place."

"I just offered to help her. She seemed like she was looking for someone, so I told her I would ask around and see what I found." Jaune answered.

Melanie ripped her sister's hand away from her mouth and practically shouted at Jaune "You just agreed to be her information broker you idiot! You are meant to stay above the law and look after The Club, not try and take Juniors job!"

"Oops?" Jaune said, shrugging his shoulder slightly.

The twins sighed in unison. "Idiot." They both muttered before leaving the blond to his doom.

* * *

Over the next two hours, Jaune had to tell almost five hundred people they where currently not serving mixed drinks, then placated five hundred customers by offering a single free drink. Luckily for the blond, this seemed to work, and Junior approved of his quick thinking. Eventually, Junior told Jaune to go into the back room and talk with Torchwick.

"So. Kid. Ever been rented out before?" Torchwick asked with a straight face.

"P-pardon!" Jaune squeaked, sounding every part a small girl.

Luckily, Torchwick cracked a smile. "Not in that way. I'm renting you for a different kind of job. See, my partner got burned. Rather nasty. Even though we pumped her full of Aura Boosters, she isn't healing. Seems we gotta take the long road on this one, and I can't afford to sit around and watch her for a week or two. That's where you are coming in. You will wait on her hand and foot for a few weeks, you get paid for it too. Easy, an't it?"

"Sure?" Jaune asked, unsure of himself. He was more than happy to help, but he had to learn his new craft, and couldn't really afford to waste time looking after someone. After expressing these concerns to Roman, the thief simply nodded and shrugged.

"Tell you what, you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. I'll set you up so you don't have to attend your course lessons and can practice here. We got a deal kid?" Torchwick stuck out his hand, offering it to the young bartender. Against his gut feeling, Jaune took it.

* * *

Dark (Neo)

Pain. That was all she felt. The constant burning sensation all over her body. Every time the wind touched her skin, she felt like she was on fire once more. She was being jostled around, lifted, then put on some sort of fabric with two poles on either side of her. Somewhere in her mind, she knew it was a stretcher, but she was in too much pain to process it properly.

Then they began to run, and she began screaming once more. "Careful you fucking animals!" She hears Roman yell from somewhere. "Just because she doesn't make noise doesn't mean I can't hear her fucking screams of pain."

This was the first time she had ever heard the worry in Roman's voice. And it was after she had failed to protect him. She had gotten to him. That woman. That Cinder. She had touched him, forced him into a corner. Forced the king of rats and thieves to bend to her will.

Neo would make her pay for it.

It wasn't for burning her that she hated Cinder for. No. It was for forcing Roman into doing her will. The man who had picked her up off the street. The man to had tight her to defend herself. The man who only asked for her to protect him. That woman had made her break that promise for the first time.

Every time the pain flared, so did her rage. Like an unquenchable fire, just like the one that burned her.

Soon, she was loaded into some kind of jeep. She knew Roman was driving. He never trusted the 'animals' to drive. Someone had put a blanket over her. It itched at her burns, but she was too tired to mover her arms. Even if she did, she doubted she would be able to with all the pain it would cause.

Luckily, one of the 'animals' had the sense to put a wet cloth on her head. It was like someone had applied ice directly to her skin. A pool of cold in a fiery inferno. Eventually, they came to a screeching stop, causing Neo to scream her silent scream once more. She heard Roman wince, even though she made no sound.

"Get her to The Club!" He shouted. They were most likely outside the Faunus District, it is the laxest with its outside security. Once more, she was picked up on the stretcher, and they began to run. Neo wanted nothing more than to pass into the darkness and awake feeling better, but that was the thing with fire and burns, they didn't allow you to pass out.

After an eternity of running, of people being pushed aside by the criminal, and a few people being hit with his cane, they finally made it to The Club. Her home and safehouse.

"Junior! Backroom! Now!" The criminal called out, heading directly to that room before people could properly spot them.

She didn't hear what Junior yelled out, but she heard the name Jaune mentioned.

The pair of criminals yelled for what seemed like hours. They were not yelling at each other, no, they were cursing out the whole fucking world as Junior did his best to treat her wounds. But the man had an aura, he didn't bother to learn first aid. Finally, the two criminals seemed to come up with some kind of plan. There was the name Jaune mentioned a few times, it being one of the few clear things she heard.

She was then taken to her room, and laid in her bed.

"Hey." She heard softly as the door to her apartment opened an hour later. "I'm coming in. Don't worry, I'm here to help." The voice said. It was soft, calm, smooth. Like water washing over hot stones.

"I am going to talk you through this, alright. Don't worry, I have seven sisters. I know how to deal with burns." The voice said. She didn't care though. She just wanted the voice to make the pain stop. Then it did, at least, partly. She felt multiple icepacks being put on her skin. Actual, proper, medical grade icepacks.

"I am going to take off most of your clothing. Some of it is melted to your skin... I'm... going to have to cut it off." The voice hesitated. She panicked. She tried to get away from the voice.

"Girls. Please. I'm sorry, but if I don't, it will be a lot worse. Please. Just trust me." The voice told her. She felt two pairs of hands held her down.

"I'll try my best to only take skin." The voice said. She went very still as a scalpel touched her skin. She felt it against her skin. Then... Nothing. It didn't hurt. It only went through the skin. He was truthful. He didn't want to hurt her. She laid still as he worked, removing melted clothes from the melted skin.

After almost another hour, he was finally done. She had a few more scratches, but nothing serious. "See. Easy. Now, let's get some more ice packs." The voice said as the hands finally let go. She felt more icepacks being put on her, covering her from head to toe.

Eventually, Neo forced an eye open and saw the person who was helping her. It was a blond, with the purest blue eyes she ever saw. Tha was when the pain finally stopped enough to let to pass into unconsciousness.

* * *

 **Heyo. I wrote everything up till his part in one go. I was originally going to put them all in one chapter, but then I realised that would be a lot of jumping back and forth, and since I want to do one light (Jaune) and one Dark (Neo) each chapter, then it wouldn't be good to start it off with three of each. I'll be aiming for around 2000 words each chapter, 1000 for each part of the chapter. The reason I made Neo get burned was just to put her out of action for the first part of RWBY since she doesn't show up until the mech fight to save Roman's ass, even though she could have been used to great effect beforehand.**

 **Oh yeah, this starts 6 months before Beacon. Just enough time for Jaune to get his bartenders license! Irl it only takes 1-5 weeks, depending where you get it, but this is including the first few months of actually working in a bar and understanding how to mix harder drinks ect.**


	4. Pain and Relief

Light (Jaune)

Jaune awoke to his alarm, set for six am. He had forgotten to change the alarm after he had left home. At some point, his body had simply collapsed into a chair and passed out. He didn't even know how much sleep he had gotten, though it felt like only a few moments.

As he forced his eyes open, the young bartender took in his surroundings. A small bedroom with an open door leading to a kitchen/living room hybrid, a bottle of water on a bedside table, and a girl with Neopolitan colored hair covered in ice packs.

"Should change them," Jaune muttered to himself, rising slowly out of the chair. He entered the kitchen area and opened the freezer, revealing that it had been shoved full of ice packs. Originally, it was filled with ice cream, but he had taken them into his room to make space for the icepacks. He could return them once the girl was feeling better.

Jaune worked methodically, going from her feet up her legs, behind her back, around her chest, and on her face, replacing the ice packs after wrapping them up with tea towels. The entire time he spoke to her with a soft, calming voice. The girl barely even reacted to his voice, only wincing every so often when he replaced an ice pack on a particularly bad spot.

"It's going to be another cold day, that's winter for you though. Worse for you with all these ice packs covering you up. Let's hope you heal up soon then. I've made sure to keep your ice cream. Had to move it into my room though. I'm planning on stepping out and picking up some medication to help with the burns. Torchwick said he would foot the bill for anything I needed. He seems like an alright guy, even if he would tell me how you got burnt so badly."

Jaune simply continued to prattle on, telling stories about his sisters, about how his father always gave him the worse advice, and how his mother would always give the best advice. He wished she had given him some advice on how to deal with this. The young man then looked down at his scroll. She was only a phone call away, yet he turned away from it. He was determined to succeed on his own.

With a sigh, he turned away from the girl on the bed. "I'll be back shortly. I need to go and get that medicine." He told her, knowing that she most likely couldn't even hear him.

Once the door was closed, Jaune put his back to it, letting his head hit the door. "What have I gotten myself into." He mumbled.

Vale was big. Really big. It had been almost an hour before Jaune had finally found a store that had burn creams, and it wasn't even a pharmaceutical store, it was a gun shop. The young bartender, still in his work clothes, stood outside the said store with a handful of tubes in his hand. He knew he had to get back. He had nowhere else to go. Even if he was working some sort of criminals, his heart wouldn't let him walk away. Someone needed his help.

But at the same time, the person who needed his help may just be hurting others, and by helping her, he causes pain for others. But at the same time, if he doesn't help her it would go against everything he stood for. It would make his attempts to become a hero worthless. Could he help someone who was so clearly a criminal in clear conscience that she may go on to hurt other people?

"What do I do?" Jaune asked no one in particular. Yet, someone answered him anyway.

"Why don't you try talking to them?"

Jaune looked down and to the right. There was a short girl with black/red hair in some sort of combat skirt.

"Pardon?" He asked, dumbfounded that someone had actually bothered to notice him.

"Why don't you talk to them? I couldn't help but notice the burn cream you are strangling. Someone is hurt, right? Why not just talk

to them and ask them to be more careful?" The girl with silver eyes asked, looking up at him as if the world was that simple.

"... It's... Not that simple. I'm not sure if I can. I don't even know them, yet I'm running around Vale like some sort of worried mother." Jaune shook his head. Now he realized what his mother felt like every time he skinned his knee, or one of his sisters got a cut.

"I wasn't even meant to get involved with them. I'm meant to be a bartender." Jaune continued, gesturing at his clothes. "Yet here I am playing nurse to someone who may very well stab me the moment she wakes up."

"Are you in some kind of trouble?" The girl with silver eyes asked, said eyes narrowing slightly.

"No. No. I don't think I am at least. Not yet anyway. It's just. I wasn't ready for this, you know? I'm meant to be serving drinks. Right now I am meant to be collapsed into bed sleeping, not having an existential crisis about helping criminals." Jaune answered, rubbing his temples with his free hand.

"Wow." The girl said, seeming to be taken aback slightly. "That's a bit heavier than I thought it would be." The girl seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable as Jaune spoke. She began to shuffle on her feet slightly but didn't disengage from the conversation.

"Yeah. Sorry. It's been a bad night. I've barely slept, so I'm not in the best of places at the moment." Jaune apologized to the girl.

"Well. Perhaps you should talk to her. Find out what kind of person she is. She may not want to hurt anyone. She could be just as wrapped up in stuff as you are. You could help her find a way out." The girl then smiled. "I could help."

"Help? How?" Jaune asked, flabbergasted at the offer from such a small, young girl.

Suddenly, without warning, she pulled out a giant mecha-shift sythe. "With Crescent Rose."

Jaune panicked, with rather good reasons. "Whoa! Is that a sythe?!"

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." The girl stated rather proudly, a smirk playing on her lips.

"A wha?" Jaune answered, rather idiotically.

"It's also a gun," Ruby stated, deflating slightly as she cocked the gun portion of the weapon.

"Oh. That's cool. But I don't think you can help. My boss said that I am free to go whenever. I'm not really from Vale, so if I don't work there, I kinda have nowhere else to go. Meaning I would have to leave Vale and go back home. At least for the first few months until I get some money saved up."

"Oh. Well, if you need help, I'm only a scroll call away." The girl said brightly, trying to bring her cheer back up. She gave Jaune her scroll number, then parted ways.

"Thanks, Ruby. I think I may just take your advice and talk to her. What's the worse that can happen, she tries and stabs me?" Jaune half-joked, laughing nervously.

* * *

Dark (Neo)

Neo never knew it was possible to be both hot and cold at the same time. Not to this degree anyway. Every in of her skin was either one extreme or the other. Parts of her felt like she was still inside that blazing inferno, while other parts felt like she had been shoved inside her freezer.

Somewhere, somehow, she knew someone was talking to her. Prattling on about anything and everything. Hot parts became cold, cold became hot. The mute managed to pick up a few things. The words father, mother, sisters were repeated a lot. It seemed like whoever was talking to her was telling stories about their family.

She tried to listen. To ignore the pain and pay attention. The distraction would have helped her. But she couldn't. Her body wouldn't allow it. Everytime the pain faded and she started to pay attention, she would move the slightest amount, causing her entire body to flare up in pain once more. It was a never-ending cycle.

Eventually, the voice left. She was left alone. That's when the other voices started. Not the voices of people, but voices in her own mind.

'Kill the bitch! She hurt us! She hurt ROMAN! Kill her!'

'Rest. Build strength. Train. Do not allow her to humiliate us again.'

'MOVE! FIGHT! KILL! SLAUGHTER! BURN!'

Neo shook her head ever so slightly, causing the pain to flare up once more. The voices in her head were always telling her to do the same things but in different ways. All except for one. One that was always quiet, and could barely be heard.

'Sleep. Hurt. Worry later.'

'Yes.' Neo thought. 'That one sounds fine.'

Neo awoke to the opening of a door. She instinctively went to grab her weapon, causing her to scream wordlessly in pain. Tears stung at her eyes as the cooling effect of the ice packs on her had long since faded.

"Are you alright?" Someone called, worry clear in their voice.

The mute girl cracked open her eyes for the first time in what seemed like forever. What met her was a pair of baby blue orbs and a mess of blond hair.

"Here." The person before he put his hands on her shoulders, barely touching her skin. "Don't try and get up. If you need anything, I'll get it for you."

Neo tried to roll her eyes at the young man, but stopped halfway, as the effort was just too much for her. Clearly, he did not know that she was mute.

"Would you like some water?" He asked her. She nodded ever so slightly, causing more pain to erupt from her neck and head. The next thing she knew, a straw was put to her lip.

After taking a long drink, and already feeling slightly better, Neo tried to move again. This time she did her best to ignore the pain. To pretend it didn't exist. To fight past it as she had always done in the past. But this time, there was someone to stop her from pushing herself too far. The young man that gave her water put his hands on her shoulders again, a bit more forcefully this time.

"You're not leaving this bed. Not for at least a few days."

This caused Neo to glare at the young man. Then to realize something else. His hands were on her shoulders. Her bare shoulders. Moving her eyes downwards, she noticed that all she was wearing was a sports bra and the upper half of her pants, the rest being cut away.

This instantly sent her into a panic. Almost naked with a stranger in her room put the mute into fight or flight mode. And like hell she was going to run. With the speed only a trained fighter could pull off, she punched the young man right in the jaw. Her aura'ed fist dislocating his jaw.

Unfortunately, this also caused her skin blisters to all erupt, and pain to flare all over her body. The momentum of the punch carried her out of the bad and straight onto the ground, hitting her head on the bedside table, breaking her already weak aura once more. The blond yelled in pain, causing two sets of feet to rush into the room.

It was the Malachite twins.

"What the fuck Neo?!" One of them yelled. Neo didn't care to check what one it was.

One of them went to the blond's side, while the white one, Melanie went to her side.

"The fuck do you think you're doing! You want to get yourself killed or something! How is Jaune?" The last bit seemed to be directed at her sister, Miltia.

A loud pop could be heard, a very girly scream, then she answered her sister. "Dislocated jaw. First time too. Best it hurts like hell."

"I-i'm fine!" the blond, now known as Jaune, told the pair of twins. Though he did so without moving his mouth in the slightest.

"No your not. Go get some ice for your jaw." Miltia told Jaune, pushing him away from the room. Once the boy was outside, they twins turned on Neo.

"What the fuck girl?" Melanie asked, grabbing Neo rather painfully by the arms as her sister, without a word spoken between them, grabbed her legs and flung her into the bed. "Was that about?"

Neo rolled her eyes slightly, then gestured down at her body with her eyes.

"O-M-G" Melanie said, shaking her head.

"That was us. We would have taken more off if Jaune hadn't stopped us. Said some bullshit about keeping your decency or something. Look. You're burnt. Badly."

"Lucky your not fucking dead really."

Miltia glared at her sister for the comment. "Jaune, the blond who's jaw you just dislocated, was asked by Torchwick to keep an eye on you. To keep you safe until you heal."

Melanie chose this moment to interrupt again. "Basically, aura is doing jackshit. You're going to be doing this the hard way. Whatever you got hit with was some serious crap. Play nice with blondie, or I'll be looking after you. Trust me, neither of us wants that."

Neo gestured with her eyes towards her closet. She wanted her clothes back on.

"Can't do that. It would irritate the burns and make things worse." Miltia told Neo, shrugging slightly as she did so.

"So suck it up, princess," Miltia added.

With that, the twins left the room with a warning to not kill the help. Neo couldn't help but roll her eyes. She wouldn't kill him. Perhaps knock him around a little once she was feeling better, but not kill him.

Once Jaune entered, he did so slowly, almost like he was afraid of being hit again. It was an excusable fear. Neo raised a single eyebrow at him. Just daring him to say or do anything.

"H-hey. Umm. Sorry?"

This surprised Neo. He didn't even do anything other than helping her, yet here he was apologizing to her for being hit. The mute decided to put him under the weird but harmless catergory.

"Look. I'm not entirely sure why you hit him, but I can take a good guess. Growing up with seven sisters kinda helps with those things."

Neo stared at him for a long moment. Eyes wide as she tried to imagine eight little her's running around. It would be amazing.

"I should have covered you up some more. I am sure it was rather startling to suddenly wake up and find that you have some guy you never met before leaning over your half-naked body. B-but don't worry!" Jaune had raised his hands in the air defensively. "I'm not some kind of pervert or anything. It's just with the burn, well, I had to get to them somehow."

Neo watched the young man keep talking. His voice was slowly getting faster and faster, his body slowly becoming more and more animated. It was rather amusing.

"Well, I went out and got some burn cream. Then you hit me, so the twins took me aside and told me about your, well, problems. You know, talking." Neo glared lightly at the young man, more to see how he would react than in any disdain. "S-sorry! T-touchy subject!"

"B-but w-well, I ki-kinda have to-to-to, you know, apply th-the cream now. I-I promise I won't do anything weird! But if I don't do it, y-your burns will take even longer to heal. A-and Roman said to look after you, th-this is the best way I know how!"

Neo merely nodded slightly. She had gathered what kind of person that Jaune was. A bumbling, but well-meaning, idiot. "Y-yeah. I gu-guess I'll get started?"

Jaune slowly, carefully walked over to Neo, and she watched him like a cat with a mouse the entire way. Once he was by her side, he took a tube out from his pocket and began reading the instructions.

"Massage into affected areas twice daily. Alright. Simple enough. I think I will need a few more tubes if I am going to be doing this twice daily." Jaune told the mute, laughing nervously as he did so. Nero merely laid there, waiting for him to get started. Internally, she braced for a lot of pain.

As his hands approached her legs, her feet being mostly unaffected, Neo closed her eyes and bit her lip. Yet, when his fingers touched her skin, instead of a rough kneading of the cool paste, as she expected, it was a soft, almost angelic, rubbing and pressing. It was as if someone was applying the paste with a feather instead of hands, then rubbing it in with water.

Her mouth opened and she silently moaned with pleasure. Both from the massage and the cool cream removing the long felt burning feeling from her body. It took two hours and fifteen tubes. It was two hours and fifteen tubes of pure pleasure. Perhaps the next few weeks wouldn't be so bad after all.


	5. Conflict and Resolution

Light (Jaune)

A single day had passed, yet Jaune felt like it had been an entire week. At the _insistence_ of Torchwick, Jaune was now crashing on the couch of Neo's room, ready to wait on her hand and foot. Unfortunately, with the bed occupied by a girl who can't move, he was forced to, not sleep on the couch, _but move his own bed into her room._ This act seemed to greatly amuse patient zero, as it was done with all the elegance that Jaune does anything, meaning none at all.

* * *

At the moment, it was two AM. Jaune was currently being hit with a lace parasol. Not only that, it also hurt. A lot. "Neo? What is i-"

As Jaune rolled over in his bed to face Neo's, his words were caught in his throat. The girl in question had tear stains running down her cheeks. Her eyes, normally brown and pink, were both pure white. The young bartender turned caretaker had noticed that Neo's eyes changed colors, but he had not seen them white until this point. It made him realize, along with the tear stains, that something was very wrong.

Even when Jaune answered her, Neo did not stop hitting him. She had seemingly gone into auto-pilot, lost in her own world of pain. Jaune grabbed her wrist, stopping her from hitting him with almost no resistance. He moved towards her, careful to not shock her. He waved his hands over her eyes, trying to get her to focus on him.

"Neo? Neo, are you there?" The young man asked, shaking her lightly to no effect. Jaune was too afraid to try anything more, for fear of irritating her burns and making things worse. "Please. I need you to wake up."

Jaune was conflicted. Neo clearly was reliving whatever horror had hurt her so much. Yet he couldn't wake her up. Not physically anyway. As he was massaging her skin, he had noticed something that had almost made him vomit. She was so burnt that her skin was ready to be peeled off like perfectly slow-cooked meat off the bone. In some patches, it had been.

"What do I do?" Jaune asked no one in particular. He couldn't get Torchwick, as he was busy 'saving their asses'. Junior and the twins were working. The mooks would be of no help. Once again, he looked at his scroll again. He knew his mother would be angry, but she could help.

"No. I can do this." Jaune told himself. He laid on the edge of both beds, a rather uncomfortable position as he had two wooden beams sticking into his side. He took the parasol out of Neo's hand and held it gently in his own. He then began to talk to her, much like he had done yesterday.

This time, instead of family, he told her of his dreams. Of how he wanted to be a hero but was rejected by Beacon. How he wanted to help people, but couldn't, and didn't know how. Of how he wanted to help her but was afraid of hurting her, even though she could clearly take some pain, and dish it right back.

He kept talking to her all night. For the second night, he didn't get a proper sleep. But he couldn't care. He was simply happy to help Neo. To help anyone. Sometime through the night, when Jaune was barely staying awake, he felt the small hand of Neo close around his own, and she began to relax.

Jaune couldn't help but smile. He felt a bubbling sensation of success begin to build in the pit of his stomach. Finally, he put his head down and fell back asleep. Only for moments later for his alarm to go off. The young bartender wanted nothing more than to smash that alarm into a thousand pieces.

He fell asleep almost instantly after turning the alarm off. He was too tired to care. After a few moments, he felt something on his neck. Small hands, shaking him.

"Hmm. Neo? What's wrong?" He asked, cracking his eyes open once more. He saw the girl, tears in her eyes, leaning over him, a confused expression on her face. She had her hands on his neck, clearly trying to strangle him, yet restraining herself at the same time. Her eyes were going haywire, changing from various shades of red, to two shades of blue, then red, then blue, then red, then blue.

Jaune reached up, slowly as to not startle her, and took her head into his hands.

"It's alright Neo. I'm here." He told her, giving her his best smile. In truth, he was terrified of her at this moment. She was clearly mentally unstable. But somewhere, deep inside of him, his soul turned to steel and his confliction was no more. This girl needed help. More help then a man like him could give. Yet, he was the only one here that could. So he would.

As soon as the words left his mouth, both her eyes turned blue. One a light, soft, caring blue, the other a deep blue that seemed to not understand what color it was meant to be, being different shades of dark blue. Then, Neo collapsed on top of Jaune.

* * *

Dark (Neo)

It was happening again. Neo was reliving the pain she had felt when she was being burnt alive. That woman's face was framed by flames. No matter how much she swung at it, the face mocked her, laughed at her, burnt her. She tried to fight it. To beat it back. But the unnatural flames merely mocked her at they burnt away at her skin.

"Weak" The face tormented her. "Pathetic. Useless. Gutter trash."

Neo felt the tears in her eyes, yet she did not try to wipe them away. Instead, she tried harder to get away. To beat back the face and flames. To break free from the torment she was going through. Just as she was about to give up, to let the flames consume her and the woman win, something fluttered in front of her face. It was small, white, and warm. Not hot like the flames, but warm, like a mothers hug.

Neo reached out and grasped the light. She felt the warmth spread through her, fight off the flames and protect her from the scorn of the woman. She held it to her bosom and didn't let go. She heard it whispering to her, but she couldn't make out the words. But that didn't matter. What mattered was that it was protecting her. It was helping her. It was doing what only one other had ever done. It cared about her.

Suddenly, there was a loud blaring noise that cut through everything, forcing her to awake with its high-pitched wailing. Cracking an eye open, Neo glared at the offending device, only to see a hand, not her own, reach up and turn it off. With surprise, she followed the arm attached to the hand, down to the blond.

Neo knew that Jaune was in the same room, but how he was positioned surprised her. His lower half was in his own bed, while his upper half was in the middle of both beds. He had already passed back out after turning off the alarm, even in such an uncomfortable spot.

Yet, even now, she still felt something warm. Like the light from her dream had followed her into consciousness. She looked for this light, only to find it in her hand. It was Jaune's hand. She was gripping it still, without even noticing. The mute stared at it for a moment. Wondering just why she would cling to this young man in such a manner.

That's when it hit her. It was also the reason why he was so tired. The whispering she had heard, but couldn't make out, had been this blond. He had stayed up and comforted her while she slept. She heard the quiet voice once more, but this time, none of the others tried to drown it out.

'Why?' It asked. It questioned why this man would do something like this for her. It was... Confused.

'Thank him.' A new voice said. This one wasn't as soft as the soft voice. But it was unsure. Like a baby deer standing for the first time. It seemed to be surprised by its own existence. As was Neo.

New voices came from time to time. Normally at times of extreme emotion. This time, it was happiness and confusion. Last time she had felt like this was when Roman took her in, creating the quiet voice.

Neo nodded, ignoring the pain she felt in doing so. She would accept the new voice. It seemed like it was on the right track. But she couldn't do it. Not yet. She couldn't even move properly yet. So instead, she laid there. Letting Jaune get some much-needed sleep.

That's when the other voices came. They decided it was time to ruin the moment of serenity.

"Kill him! He will betray us!"

"Kill him! He will abandon us!"

"Kill him! He will manipulate us!"

"Let him live! He is only trying to help!"

"Kill him! He is going to use us!"

"Kill him! He doesn't care for us!"

"Kill him! He is going to take advantage of us!"

"Let him live! _He can save us!_ "

Neo felt like her head was going to explode. All the voices were shouting, trying to drown out the quiet voice and the confused voices. But they screamed back. They were not going to be silent. No longer would they hide in fear from the other voices. For now, they had a reason to speak up.

The quiet voice could barely be heard above the crowd in her head, yet it did not stop yelling, trying to be heard. The confused voice was loud but only shouted every once and a while, as it had to think of what it was going to say first.

Neo got up, held her head in her hands. Tried to pull her own hair out. Anything to get the voices to just STOP! That's when her eyes returned to Jaune. Most of them wanted her to kill him. If she did that, then things could return to normal. The voices would get what they wanted and would go quiet once more.

She ignored the pain in her body. Ignored the blisters popping and the skin ripping. The pain to her body was nothing compared to the pain she felt mentally. Slowly, one hand after another, she wrapped her hands around Jaune's neck. Slowly, she tightened her grip. She felt the voices scream in support. United in all way. All of them but two.

The quiet voice screamed for her to stop, that if she did this, all hope would be lost. Although it tried, it's scream could not pierce the veil of madness that was overtaking her, for it was the quiet voice. Unable to be loud.

But the confused voice did not have that problem. It had one of its own though. It took too long to think of what to say. It was too new, too conflicted in what it was meant to be. But it knew it had to stop this. It knew that it could not allow this to continue. So it yelled anything and everything it could think of. But it wasn't enough.

Together, the voices made Neo hesitate for only a second. But that second was enough. Jaune awoke. He asked her what was wrong. He ignored the tears that she didn't even know where flowing. He took her face into his warm hands and told her that he was there for her. Then, he smiled. A pure smile that hid no malice. Only the fact that he was there to look after her. To keep her safe.

This broke her. Unable to fathom how this man, this man she was about to kill, could move past that and worry about _her_ , broke her. It was too much on top of the voices screaming at her. She simply collapsed.

* * *

 **I enjoy writing Neo a lot more. It kinda shows. heh. Perhaps I should take some more time with Jaune's parts.**

 **Also, I wrote both parts at the same time. As Jaune was being hit, I stopped writing and wrote the bits about the Cinder's face tormenting her. As i wrote about the warm light protecting Neo, i stopped and wrote Jaune holding her hand. ECT ECT. I think I found out how to write this stoy. Or, atleast the parts where we are seeing the same thing happen twice though both people.**


	6. Chapter 6

Light (Jaune)

A single week had passed since Jaune had arrived at Vale. Yet, it had felt like a year. He was running on barely any sleep, having to comfort the psychopath as she had nightmares every single night. Yet, he did not voice a single complaint. He kept up with his bartender studies, three weeks left until he could legally serve drinks. He even had begun to inquire into the woman that Yang was looking for. Mainly by asking Torchwick to keep an ear out for him. He had also been forced to feed the ice cream themed girl ice cream. Big surprise there after finding her freezer full of the stuff.

Yet, none of it seemed to really matter. At the end of the day, he was still stuck in the room with Neo. The only time he got to go outside was when he was buying more burn cream for her. The almost complete isolation was beginning to wear on him, weakening his mental state. He had completely run out of things to talk about. It had also begun to show.

He had bags under his eyes, his movements had become slower and slower. He would doze off in the middle of the day. Work on getting his bartender license was beginning to fall behind. His hair was even messier than normal. Things were not looking good for the young man.

Yet, he kept pushing onwards. Dedicating himself to helping Neo, merely for the fact that she couldn't help herself. He expected no reward, even if Torchwick was paying him for this service. Yet, something kept nagging at him. Eating at him from the inside. Causing him to hesitate every now and then.

Neo, spending literally every waking moment with him, had noticed. But she was still debating with herself on whether on not she cared enough to bring it up. So Jaune simply kept pushing himself onwards. Forwards towards self-destruction with no end in sight.

Luckily, not all savors are law abiding.

"Knock knock, guess who's back!" Torchwick yelled as he haphazardly threw the door open. "Do hope I am not interrupting anything."

Jaune just stared dead-eyed at the flamboyant man, while Neo, still in the bedroom and not even visible from the front door at the moment, rolled her eyes.

"Geez. It's like someone died." Torchwick muttered to himself, yet loud enough for Neo to hear in the next room.

"Sorry, what is it you need?" Jaune asked, biting back a yawn.

"Why, just came to check up on the newlyweds! Must say, the bride is looking awfully tired." Torchwick taunted, even if it took Jaune much too long to realize that he just said that Neo wears the pants in their non-existent relationship.

Jaune watched as Torchwick opened the door to the bedroom, only to close it rather quickly as a knife was embedded into it.

"I see Neo is doing well. Any idea when she will be back up and running? I have need of my getaway car slash problem solver." Torchwick asked the young man, rubbing his hands together as he kept his eyes on the door, both to hide his worry over his partner and to watch for any more knives.

Jaune shrugged slightly. "End of the month? I mean, she will be able to walk, but I don't think she will be able to fight. Her Aura seems to be doing some limited healing, but it's slower than it should be. I don't really know enough about this stuff. I mean, I've seen what aura can do, I've been through my fair share of Grimm attacks like anyone else living outside of Vale, but it's all secondhand."

After giving a brief rundown of Neo's condition, Jaune pulled out a tube of burn cream. "If you could find some higher-grade stuff, it should be even quicker, even if only by a few days."

Before the young man could even blink, Torchwick had snatched the tube out of Jaune's hand and was inspecting it. "This stuff is already rather high grade. Hunstman level stuff. Expensive too."

Jaune shrugged again, too tired to do anything else. "Your paying."

"And my wallet feels the hole being burnt into it." Another knife went into the door, right beside Torchwick's head. "Bad analogy." He admitted. "But you do look like hell kid. Has she been keeping you up with her snoring?"

"No." Jaune sighed, putting his head against the wall, not really caring how he looked at the moment. "She has been having nightmares. Bad ones. It... It doesn't feel right to just try and sleep while she has them, you know? I've... I've been trying to help her calm down, but since I can't really wake her up, I just kinda have to talk to her until she calms down."

"Sounds harsh. Well kiddo, I guess that makes me the bearer of good news. I've got a day off, so I decided to spend it checking up on the little ice cream kid." A third knife stuck in the door. This one also near his head, but a lot lower. "Neo, be a dear and don't castrate me. I would very much enjoy starting a family one day."

Jaune blinked a few times, surprised by the very... interesting relationship between the pair. It seemed the this was an old song and dance, one that had been done many times before. The young man just kind of pointed towards Neo, then to Torwick, and mouthed the words 'Are you too like, you know, together?'

Torchwick, for his part, was not surprised in the slightest. But he did notably move away from the door before answering. The criminal stood beside Jaune, wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Dear god no." He mumbled, taking a cigar out of one of his pockets, lighting it, and taking a long drag before continuing.

"Neo and I have a long history over a short period of time. I'm only a few years older than you kiddos, but it's enough for me to feel like we could never truly understand each other. Neo on the other hand." Torchwick noticeable paused, trying to pick his words carefully. "Her feelings on that subject are complicated. Part of the reason why I hired you, instead of some random shmuck doctor. Your closer to her age, you can understand her better than I can."

"You can get lost in this profession easily. Before, well, the burning, I was planning on demanding Neo take a few months off. She is becoming too unstable. Too aggressive. Unfortunately, due to unforeseen developments, that is no longer an option. We all will be working overtime. But I care for the midget, I really do. We are partners and, dare I say it, friends." Actual worry crept into Roman's voice, and the normally flamboyant man seemed to deflate a little.

"But that's where you come in." Torchwick's attention returned to Jaune, staring him right into the eyes, the smoke from the cigar going directly up his nose. "See, a kid like you, one that is over caring, dedicated to helping people to the point that you look like a living breathing zombie and all that goody hero stuff is what she needs to keep her sane."

"But do remember one thing," Torchwick said as he let go of Jaune, but before the boy could even so much as move a muscle, the criminal had him by his shirt, pulling his face down so he was forced to look the criminal in the eyes. "She belongs to me. You will do nothing outside of what I permit. You will not try and stop her if I tell her to do something. If I tell her to kill your mother, she will. If you try to stop her, she will kill you. Because that's what I want her to do."

Jaune blinked rather stupidly as he was pushed back, landing on the couch. "Now, off you go to play, sleep, or whatever it is you kids do these days. Today, I shall benevolently look after Neo and all her needs" Torchwick smiled, yet gave nothing away. It could have been the caring smile of a father, or the lecherous one of a pedophile, Jaune simply couldn't tell. He had a feeling that's exactly what Torchwick wanted.

* * *

Dark (Neo)

Neo watched as Roman entered her room. She couldn't hear what was said to Jaune, but she caught a glimpse of his face as the door was opened. It was pale white, fear clear from his body language. Once the door was closed, the mute girl simply raised a single eyebrow at the criminal.

"What?" Said criminal asked, feigning innocence.

Neo's eyes narrowed slightly, giving a glare to Roman.

"I didn't do anything!" Roman raised his hands in defense.

Neo's glared harder at him.

"Alright! I may have threatened him slightly! But I didn't touch a hair on his pretty blond head. Your boy-toy is unharmed." Roman promised. He took the cigar out of his mouth and stared at it for a moment. "Besides, we have bigger problems than him."

Suddenly, Roman tore open the cigar, tobacco going everywhere. But inside was a single piece of paper. A picture really. "We have work to do."

Neo meanwhile glanced at the mess Roman made, the towards the picture, then towards herself.

"I'll clean it up later." Roman waved a hand dismissively. "As for why the picture was hidden in my cigar, the cops have been on my ass the past week. I'm not sure if you have been watching the news, but in the last few days, the gang and I have stolen enough dust to blow up an entire city block. Lotta our guys getting caught too. If they found me with this picture, well, Cindy would not be very happy."

Roman walked up to Neo's side, crouching down next to her and showing her the picture. "Don't worry about your injuries. I don't need you to fight. Perry can handle the killing, I just need you to get him out. It's gonna get hot, fast."

Neo raised a single eyebrow at the effeminate thief.

"I'll be creating a distraction. Apparently, the SCD are buying up a whole lot of land just outside of Vale. Seems they found a new dust mine. Until they head out, they are storing a lot of materials and machinery in a warehouse. I'm going to hit it and sell everything we get. Gonna need the money to get our boys out of jail. Can't sell the dust or Cindy would burn me alive. It looked like it hurt when she did it to you."

Neo went back to glaring at the thief. She seemed to do that a lot. Swapping between glaring, eye-rolling, and trying to state the obvious.

"Well, we have until tonight anyway. With the blond gone out, we shouldn't have to worry about anyone getting in the way."

* * *

 **Originally, I was going to write about twice as much in this chapter, but it was a hard week at work so you get a normal sized chapter instead. But this time with a lot more Jaune instead of Neo. Plus Roman! Who doesn't love Roman?**


End file.
